Steve DeAngelo: Prop 64 not perfect, but a really essential next step

Mill Valley community gathering place and venue icon Sweetwater Music Hall last night rocked to a “Get OutThe Vote Concert” to raise awareness on Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act(AUMA), with a show headlined by Moonalice and also featuring Lorin Rowan and the 420 Waldos. The show was opened with a talk by Steve DeAngelo, one of the founders of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, CA, followed by Lindsay Robinson, director of development of the Marijuana Policy Project, answering questions about Proposition 64 and AUMA.

A survey released by Field Poll and the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California suggests that 57% of likely voters support Proposition 64. As reported by the Huffington Post, that’s similar to the 58% support that the University of Southern California’s Dornslife College and the Los Angeles Times found in a poll released earlier this week.

Roger McNamee, cannabis reform advocate and Moonalice founder, whose "first and driving motivation on Prop 64 is about civil rights," started the evening by explaining why he is so strongly supportive of Prop 64, saying, “This is California and this year on November 8th there is at least one really good thing that can happen. That is that we can pass Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. This is something that is long overdue and absolutely I think essential to the welfare of our state."

Describing the negative impact of the black market in cannabis, Roger said, "As you know, we have an enormous black market in cannabis in California. It takes place outside the economy. It has huge negative environmental consequences. It has huge negative consequences for employees. It has huge negative consequences for everybody who's involved because it's a felony. We have a chance to fix all of that. We have a chance to address the civil rights violations of people of color who are arrested and incarcerated at three times their rate of usage. We can do a lot of really good things.”

Prop 64 – Not perfect, but a really essential next step

In introducing Steve DeAngelo, Roger said, “Folks have sent us a ton of questions on Facebook and on Twitter saying, "Hey, we don't understand this thing." There's been a lot of disinformation in the marketplace. The guys on the other side of this thing are people in the opiate business, people in the hard liquor business whose businesses are threatened by the legalization of cannabis. They've spread a lot of disinformation.”

Steve DeAngelo began by saying that to him Prop 64 was also a compromise, but one that needed to be made, “Let's think about what is this thing 64 in the first place. It's a law. It's a law that's going to be passed by the people as opposed to the legislature, but it's a law. Like most laws, it's a compromise. There were many, many different groups who got around the table to help draft Prop 64. Some of them had interest A or interest B. There were a lot of different opposing interests that needed to come together around that table to put together a team that could get this initiative on the ballot, and compromises were made in the process of drafting.”

Steve continued, “The result, from my point of view, is there is stuff in there that I love. One of things is that people like me who have felony cannabis convictions will be able to be licensed in the legal cannabis industry under Prop 64. There's things in there that I really, really, really don't like, like the power of local governments anywhere to overrule the will of the voters of California and say that, "Just in our little city, in our little town, in our county, we're not going to allow a legal cannabis industry. Even though the voters of California approved this law." Is there stuff I like? Yeah. There's stuff I like. Is there stuff I really find distasteful? Yes, absolutely.”

“That's generally the way it is with almost all laws in a democratic society,” Steve said. “That's what we do. We come around a table. We have disagreements. We have different interests. We trade things off, and we come up with compromises. Prop 64 is very much a compromise. We need to understand that it's not perfect, but it is a really essential next step. It comes at a really, really critical time in our country. We can disagree from now until eternity about the details of Prop 64, what you like, what I like. The reality is we are in the midst of an election season that we do not know how it's going to turn out.”

With the results of the election on November 8 uncertain, Steve stressed the importance of not losing the vote on Prop 64, saying, “If we don't pass Prop 64, to the only west coast state where cannabis is still illegal under state law, they will come to California, and they will unleash a reign of terror on the Emerald Triangle and in our cities and on our manufacturers and on our patients that will make what happened in 2011 look like a practice rehearsal. We can't afford to lose this one. This is not an election where we know what is going to be the outcome.”

“Best thing ever for small growers of the Emerald Triangle”

Many of the concerns that people have about Prop 64 are about the impact that it will have on small growers. Steve addressed this saying, “I've heard questions from folks like: What will happen to small growers? Is Monsanto coming? Is there going to be a corporate take over? The answer to most of those really, really scary questions, in my opinion, is mostly no. Mostly no.”

Talking about the need of “letting go” and “one last sacrifice” that needed to be made by the community of cannabis growers, Steve said, “We won't do it alone, we're not going to do that alone. There's not enough hippies in northern California, there's not enough of us, our arms aren't long enough to reach all around the world. We need to welcome new people who have just heard this call that we've called for so long, that we followed for so long into this community, and allow them to help us carry this plant forward.”

Set the cannabis culture free

Steve stressed that there is “enough room in the new cannabis industry for everybody who wants to be there,” and that Prop 64 will be “the best thing ever for the small growers of the Emerald Triangle who are the folks that are probably the most nervous about Prop 64 right now.”

Talking about the multi-generational community in the Emerald Triangle that is centered on the production of cannabis and that has developed a culture that “lives by the lessons and the values that the plant teaches us,” Steve said, “Set that culture free. Let that culture have wings. Let us bring an avalanche, a river of tourists from all over the world. Let's bring them into our communities, let's show them what a community that lives by these lessons and values actually looks like. That's what 64 can do for the Emerald Triangle.”

Lose Prop 64 – Lose the national market

Steve concluded his talk by describing what would happen if Prop 64 did not pass, saying, “What happens if we don't pass 64? Two things. One, the federal crackdown that I was talking about before. Two, other states are moving forward. They're not going to stop. Today California has cannabis as it's number one cash crop. Number one cash crop. We outproduce every single other state in the country by far. If we don't pass 64, those states are going to start gaining on us. Colorado, which has legal cannabis. Alaska even, Washington, Oregon, they're not waiting. They will start claiming ever larger parts of that national market. 90% of the cannabis in California is grown and sent out of state. We all know that. We don't talk about it much but we know that. We don't want to lose that market. We lose 64 then what happens is we also lose ... start eroding our share of that national market"

Perfection can't be the enemy of progress

Lindsay Robinson from the Marijuana Policy Project began her talk by reinforcing what Steve had said about Prop 64 not being a “perfect law,” saying, “As Steve was saying this is not a perfect law by any means. It took many many months. Advocates were at the table, business leaders, concerned parties, patients. There was a huge group represented that tried to come together to make something that would work for California that would recognize the long and incredibly diverse history that folks in California have with the cannabis plant but also make something that could actually be passed.”

“We needed to find a middle ground between voters who live in conservative areas and growers in the Emerald Triangle,” she continued, “I think we have found that. One of the good things is that Prop 64 there are portions of it that can be voted on again in other ballot initiatives. It is the will of the people and parts of it can be changed. I think that we can't have perfection be the enemy of progress. I really do believe that this is a step forward.”

Addressing concerns

Addressing some of the concerns around Prop 64, particularly those about corporate take-over, Lindsay said, “There are going to be 19 licensing options moving forward with Prop 64. They will work on cultivation, processing, retail, testing, et cetera. One of the things that I think is really interesting is that for the first five years the law will not allow really large cultivation and it also won't allow those cultivations to be vertically integrated. I think that will help with some of the concern of really large businesses and really large monopolies forming in California. I know that is a concern for a lot of people. There is some wording in there that I think will help with that.”

With respect to what is legal under Prop 215 and new felonies, Lindsay said, “If they are right now legal under 215, they will stay legal under Prop 64. That's really important to know. No new felonies will be created.” She continued, “I think probably having a large quantity of marijuana on you, that currently you could face six months in jail if you had over an ounce. In almost anywhere in California realistically you could face six months in jail, that will not happen under Prop 64. That's really exciting.”

She stressed that sales tax would not need to be paid by medical card users saying, “There will be a new 15% sales tax on recreational or adult use marijuana. That will not apply to people who still have medical cards, they will be exempt from that sales tax.”

Regarding use of the tax fund, Lindsay said, “Annually basically we're looking at ten million dollars going to the University of California to study legalization, see its effects, understand the wide scale issues that folks are dealing with, how the regulations are working, how they're not. This is an interesting piece, 15 million dollars over five years will go to studying and creating DUI protocols. That's a huge issue right now. One that I don't think has been currently worked out in Prop 64. That's something that's going to continued to be studied and worked on. We're looking at 2 million dollars a year to medical marijuana research. That is incredible.”

She continued, “60% of the remaining money in the tax fund will go to youth prevention, education, and treatment. Environmental restoration, that's another one that's going to be receiving money from illegal grows. Hugely devastating to certain areas. There is going to be money that goes to that. There is going to be money that goes to law enforcement in helping to enforce these regulations.”

With regard to losing Prop 215 protection, Lindsay said, “Prop 64 is not going to touch the protection that folks have under 215 now. This is also incredible and super exciting. Upwards of 50 million dollars over the next five years is going to go to grants for communities that have been disenfranchised by this war on marijuana. That is bad ass so I hope that you guys are exciting about because as an activist that is really meaningful.”

Lindsay concluded by taking about the benefits of Prop 64 to veterans, saying, “One thing I think is also really exciting is that right now most veteran doctors, anyone going through the VA, they don't talk to their doctors about medical marijuana. There is a huge stigma with vets and the doctors are actually not allowed to recommend that veterans use medical marijuana. Now vets don't necessarily have to talk to their doctors about it or they can, but it will allow people who are suffering from ailments to receive medicine even if they're not necessarily getting a recommendation from their doctor. I think that's huge as well and really exciting.”

Watch the whole "Get Out The Vote" concert below:

Roger McNamee - My First And Driving Motivation On California Proposition 64 Is About Civil Rights

Roger McNamee, musician and advocate for cannabis reform in the United States, recently shared his thoughts on California's Proposition 64 and his support for #YesOn64. Here are some of the highlights from his recent live Facebook broadcast. Scroll down to see the video. 

Roger began, "I'm here to tell you, on November 3rd, Thursday, November 3rd, Moonalice is going to be playing a concert at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California. That's the venue owned by BobWeir of the Grateful Dead. We're going to be there on November 3rd for a Proposition 64 awareness concert. We're going to be joined at that show by Steve DeAngelo, the founder of the Harborside Health Center, which is the first, the largest, and in my opinion the best medical dispensary in the state of California. He's going to be there to answer all your questions."

He continued, "There is a tremendous campaign being waged by people who are coming out of industries like the pharmaceutical opiate industry, the hard liquor industry, for-profit prisons, and other people who are trying to protect the status quo, to keep our state from making what is a really, really, really important next step in the battle to free people from just the hell that has been the war on drugs. I want you to understand a few things. Proposition 64 is just a step. It's one in a long line. It's not perfect, but we're going to fix what's wrong with it, and it is so much better than what we have now that I want to encourage you to listen to the arguments that I want to make right now so that you can appreciate why I'm so enthusiastic about this."

It's a matter of civil rights

"My first and driving motivation on Prop 64 is about civil rights," Roger said. "I don't know if you know this, but did you realize that people of color are arrested and incarcerated for marijuana at three times not just the rate of the population but thee times the rate of usage of marijuana? Essentially the drug laws are the foundation of the new Jim Crow. This is the way that white supremacists, one of the core ways for controlling people of color. It's really horrible. It's a tremendous waste of law enforcement resources. The people who are caught in the cross-hairs of this, it's so, so hard to recover. The only way, the only way we can help them is by taking this important step to legalize cannabis in the state of California."

He added passionately, "To me, this is a civil rights issue. For me, it's not an investment opportunity. For many people it will be. My focus is, if I have anything I can do about this, I want to make sure that people of color get special advantages to come into this industry and be successful, because frankly they're the ones who've been abused by these laws all the way along, and they deserve a chance to be part of whatever success comes. Let's not kid ourselves. This is a humongous industry today. It's $50 billion. The notion that this isn't dominated by big business? It is. It's dominated by big crime. Our job is to get this into the legitimate economy so that it can help everybody."

Continuing, Roger said, "I'm sitting there going, look, you're free to vote any way you want, but if you want to vote in a way that you can feel really good about, just ask yourself the following question: How often do you get to make a vote that directly impacts the civil rights of people in our state? How often do we get to do that? I'm involved in this because I grew up in a family where civil rights was a big deal. My parents were super active in the '60s in the civil rights movement. I was raised to believe that that stuff really matters, so I'm doing everything in my power to try to fix the great wrong that has been done to people of color in the name of the war on drugs. I'm inviting all of you to join me."

Other reasons for saying #YesOn64

Roger elaborated on other reasons for saying #YesOn64, "There are lots of other reasons to do this. Let me just list a few of them. The first thing to understand is that California has a gigantic black market today, and the black market for marijuana is somewhere between $20 and $70 billion a year. The folks at Harborside would tell you somewhere between $50 and $70 billion is probably the correct number. A lot of this is in the hands of people who are growing illegally in state parks and national parks with enormous environmental consequences. None of the people who work in that industry get health insurance. They don't get social security. There is no labor protection. There was a story in The New York Times this week about people who are being abused, I mean physically abused working in that industry because everything is currently illegal. That's just wrong."

He continued, "The key thing here is that the state of California needs to accept the fact that marijuana is the largest cash crop in our state, and that having it outside the legitimate economy, it's just crazy. This is a commonsense thing that we're trying to do here. Again, it's a step along the way. Prop 64 does not do anything about bringing the black market into the legitimate economy, but it sets the basis for it. It sets the next step that essentially creates and normalizes the cannabis industry in our state. It allows a bunch of really important things to happen. The first thing that it does is that it's going to begin to create a real industry, so the folks who've labored so hard during the medical era have a chance to also address the portion of the market that is, if you will, adult use."

"Why is that important? The reason it's important is that we want this inside our economy. We want to regulate it," said Roger. "We would like to tax it, because the state needs more money for education. It needs more money for mental health care. It needs more money for infrastructure. The reality is, if you had a 10% tax on cannabis all the way through the industry and somehow you were able to get two-thirds of the black market to be part of the real economy, it would literally change the economics of the state of California dramatically. Effectively it would be as important to California as oil has been to the state of Texas. I think that would be a really, really good idea. I think in many ways marijuana is that important to the state of California. Let's make it part of the mainstream economy."

Opponents' disinformation campaign

Describing the plethora of #NoOn64 memes on social media, Roger said, "There have been a ton of complaints that this is going to be bad for smaller farmers, that it's going to create new crimes that currently aren't crimes. All of that stuff, all the stuff you've been reading on Facebook, it's coming from people who profit from the status quo, and it misses some points. There are clearly some things wrong with the bill. I think it is stupid to have misdemeanor for certain kinds of growing at home. That's nuts, but let's remember, today it's a felony. This is clearly a step in the right direction."

He continued, "Is it perfect? Not even close, but I am now working more or less full-time trying to get this done, trying to help our state get this right. I'm working with the Lieutenant Governor's Office. I'm working with other people in our state government. I'm working with people in the federal government. Why am I doing this? I'm doing this because people of color have been victimized by these laws for ages. Our state needs the tax revenues. The people who work in this industry need better protections. It's not going to go perfectly. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to fix them. We've got to do this   together."

  

"Here's the thing. The disinformation campaign being waged by the people who make opiate pharmaceuticals, by the people who make hard liquor, by the for-profit prison companies and all that, their disinformation campaign has caused the polling to get much tighter," said Roger. "It shouldn't be that way. This is a core part of our economy. Let's just do the right thing and treat it with the respect it deserves. Let's treat the people with respect. I want to protect small business."

Rocking the prop

Roger described the show (embedded below) of his band Moonalice in support of Prop 64, saying, "On November 3rd at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California, Moonalice is going to be playing a show. We've invited Steve DeAngelo, the founder of the Harborside Health Center, the largest, the first dispensary in the state of California, to come and answer your questions. Come and meet Steve. Come and meet the other people from Harborside. It's going to be a fun show, but we're going to learn a lot, and we're going to bring the tribe together to do something for civil rights that we can all be incredibly proud of." 

He concluded by saying, "I will tell you, I don't pretend that Prop 64 solves the whole problem. In politics it never works that way. In politics you make small steps and you make lots of them, and you keep at it and you're determined and you fight for the right thing. If you're really lucky, you live to see the finish line. I look at all my friends in the LGBTQ community and the incredible job they did on marriage equality, and I admire them for just hanging in there and fighting the good fight. Look what's happened. They've been really successful. If we elect the right person President this year, we're going to keep all of those gains. Now is the time to do the same thing for cannabis. Join me. Vote "Yes" on Proposition 64 on November 8th."



Everyone who attends the Prop 64 awareness concert at Sweetwater Music Hall on 3 November will receive a set of 11 #yeson64 posters, including these posters by Dennis Loren, Carolyn Ferris and Wes Wilson and Wendy Wright, Moonalice artists from the Haight Street Art Center collective.